


Cinnamon Candles

by jingucchislippers



Series: Sweets [2]
Category: Uta no Prince-sama
Genre: Anal Sex, Bathing/Washing, Choking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Sexual Content, M/M, Oral Sex, Panic Attacks, Ranmaru Gives Reiji The Love He Deserves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:46:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22255888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jingucchislippers/pseuds/jingucchislippers
Summary: Ranmaru helps Reiji de-stress from work with a candlelit bath.
Relationships: Kotobuki Reiji/Kurosaki Ranmaru
Series: Sweets [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1587517
Comments: 6
Kudos: 51





	Cinnamon Candles

**Author's Note:**

> tw: panic attack
> 
> This fic does center around Reiji having a stress induced panic attack of sorts. Please don't read if you're uncomfortable with them.
> 
> It's also related to Strawberry Jam, but you don't need to read it to understand this one, although there are a few references to it and you'll find out a bit of backstory to ranrei if you do choose to read it.

Ranmaru’s fingers left from underneath the running faucet as he was satisfied with the warm temperature. He walked over to the small, green basket filled with half a dozen various bath bombs and plucked out the lavender as he was seeking something calm.

After tossing it into the filling tub and briefly watching the bomb fizzle to color the water a soft purple, he picked up the lighter on the counter and went to light cinnamon scented candles that were placed on opposite sides of the tub, as well as a couple smaller, used candles lining the counter.

The final touch involved taking his phone from his pocket to text everyone to fuck off the rest of the night, then he opened up Spotify and tapped one of Reiji’s playlists that was filled to the brim with cheesy western R&B. He set it on shuffle before hitting the play button and left the device on the counter as one the songs started up on his way out. 

His boyfriend was lying sprawled out on his back, still in the clothes he’d been working all day in and covering his face with his hands. Ranmaru was quite exhausted himself what with how packed their schedule had been for the past month, their group barely had time for a breather.

As the leader of Quartet Night, Reiji tended to put on a world class facade for the public, never letting their adoring fans or worthless reporters know just how worn and tired he was. 

Ranmaru clearly remembers the first time he witnessed his boyfriend have breakdown from all the stress that he piled on himself and refused to tell anyone else. Ranmaru admittedly panicked when he saw Reiji bawling on the bathroom floor while ranting just utter nonsense.

Camus and Ai came in not even two minutes after Ranmaru desperately called them and the blonde managed to get the older man under control as Ranmaru stood uselessly on the sidelines.

_... _

_... _

_... _

_ ‘How did you know what to do?’ Ranmaru asked once they were just outside of Reiji’s bedroom. Ai insisted on staying by his side as Camus invited Ranmaru to join him. _

_ ‘It’s not the first time something like this has happened,’ Camus calmly replied, ‘I would’ve told you sooner, but Reiji begged me not to. He doesn’t want anyone to think of him as weak, especially not you.’ _

_ ‘What the fuck? I’d never think that,’ Ranmaru harshly whispered back at Camus, ‘how often does this happen?’ _

_ ‘This is the first... episode since you’ve started dating,’ Camus said, ‘before that it’s been four, five months, maybe. I thought he was getting better at managing it.’ _

_... _

_... _

_... _

Ranmaru would consider himself fairly tuned into Reiji’s moods by now, so he was determined not to allow his boyfriend to sink into that place again if he could help it. There were subtle signs here and there that he caught throughout the past week, but there was only so much a favorite snack, a series of kisses, or a quick fuck could solve.

‘The bath is ready, Rei,’ Ranmaru said as he was leaning in the doorway. 

Reiji pulled his hands away from his face and quietly pushed himself up as Ranmaru walked over to help him shed him of his clothing. His boyfriend was rather despondent as Ranmaru let the various articles of clothing either fall onto the bed or floor and left for the bathroom once he was down to his boxers.

Ranmaru glanced back to see the older man slip inside, but didn’t make a move to join him until he was sure that Reiji wasn’t going to lock the door behind him. 

Ranmaru learned through trial and error that trying to force Reiji into talking was a perilous task and typically wound up in his boyfriend either shutting down further or screaming anything hurtful off of the top of his head.

The minute long wait was agonizing for Ranmaru as he counted off the seconds in his head, then strolled across the bedroom to peek inside the candlelit bathroom. Reiji had turned off the faucet and was sitting quietly in the middle of the bathtub, presumably waiting on the other man to join him.

Ranmaru shut the door behind him and quickly stripped down to the nude while half heartedly pushing his dirty clothes into the corner with his foot. Reiji scooted forward some as Ranmaru settled into the warm water at one end of the tub. It wasn’t exactly the biggest tub around, but Reiji’s short stature helped offset just how lanky Ranmaru’s body was.

Ranmaru took Reiji’s shoulder and gently pulled him flush against his bare chest, he could feel the slight shivers from his boyfriend and softly whispered in his ear that he could let it all out now. 

Out of everything in this ritual, this was always the worst part for Ranmaru because all he could do was sit there as Reiji sobbed about how useless he was, how everything was getting so hard, how he’s recount every single error he made in their performances, and a dozen other lies that Ranmaru would’ve passionately argued against in the past.

But now? He knew that Reiji needed to let these toxic thoughts out, no matter how much it drove Ranmaru insane hearing his boyfriend talk about himself in such a negative light. 

Reiji’s back heavily sank against Ranmaru’s chest as he grew quiet, allowing Ranmaru’s arms to wrap around his middle and gently kiss at the shell of his ear. The only sound that filled the bathroom in this moment was the music filtering from Ranmaru’s phone, still sitting on the counter.

‘Do you know why I love you?’ Ranmaru started as his lips were just outside of Reiji’s ear, ‘because you light up every room you step into, no matter how much of a drag we’re all having you’re always there to pick us up, and you always go out of your way to help our kouhai with any of their troubles.’

‘You’re also fucking incredible at everything you do,’ Ranmaru continued as Reiji remained silent, ‘you always put in one hundred and ten percent to put on the best shows for our fans, you never gave up on those ridiculous bonding days to help strengthen our group, and you’re always finding new ways to improve your skills, never letting yourself grow stagnent.’

Reiji didn’t utter a peep, but Ranmaru felt a hand cover his own and proceeded to lace their fingers together, ‘and you’ve helped me grow so much as a person. We both know how much of an asshole I used to be, I mean still am, but less so. It’s through you that I’ve learned to stop being selfish and care about the idiots I’m constantly surrounded by.’

‘I could go on for hours about how I love waking up next to you, how I love the look on your face when I cook your favorite meals, how I love getting the opportunity to stand on stage with you,’ Ranmaru said as he heard a slight sniffle from his boyfriend, ‘how you’re always so excited to drag me out to do some new shit your discovered, how you force me to do those dumb youtube challenges or sit through those reality shows, how no matter how much of fucking stubborn prick I can be... you never gave up on me.’

‘And... you’ve been going at all this for years now, never letting yourself take a real vacation,’ Ranmaru softly said with a hint of hesitation on his tone, ‘you’ve been doing so fucking well, Rei, but I can see the cracks starting to show... and I’m worried about you. We all are.’

Reiji raised his free hand to wipe at his eyes as Ranmaru quietly awaited his response. He wasn’t fully confident about pushing his specific topic since caused a massive argument when it came up last year after one of his breakdowns. Ranmaru still deeply regretted that whole... event.

‘I’ll tell Shining that I’m going on an extended hiatus next year,’ Reiji said as he squeezed Ranmaru’s hand, ‘it’s been on my mind as of late... but I wasn’t sure how you guys would take it.’

‘Rei...’ Ranmaru softly kissed Reiji’s cheek, ‘you know we’ll all support you, even if you fuck off for two, five, ten years, Quartet Night will always be here for you. Your mental well being comes first, nothing else.’

‘Mmm...’ Reiji sighed and turned his head to meet Ranmaru’s lips for a gentle kiss, ‘it’s just... hard, this life is all I’ve known.’

‘You won’t be alone,’ Ranmaru said, ‘I’ll be right there with you, so will Ai and Camus and everyone else.’

‘Ran-Ran, it’s just a hiatus, I’m not undergoing cancer treatment,’ Reiji replied with a slight curl to his lips, ‘it’ll just be difficult to keep myself away from work... and I was thinking we could find our own place together.’

‘Fuck me, I love you even more now,’ Ranmaru’s arm squeezed at Reiji’s waist, ‘I’ve been dying to get the fuck out of here.’

‘I know you have~,’ Reiji said, ‘but we’ll have to wait, I don’t know if we can fit in house hunting to our schedules.’

‘I’ll wait as long as it takes for you, Rei,’ Ranmaru said as his nose nuzzled against Reiji’s neck, ‘we could be sharing a cardboard box and I’d be fucking thrilled because you’re with me.’

‘Ranmaru...’ Reiji replied as Ranmaru glanced up to see tears threatening to spill once more from those puffy eyes. The bassist pressed his lips against his boyfriend’s once more, allowing this kiss to last longer than a simple peck.

Reiji pulled away first with a faint smile on his swollen lips and let his head rest on Ranmaru’s shoulder as the rest of the pent up tension in his body resided with him fully relax into the warm water.

‘Move up for a sec,’ Ranmaru said as he reached up to nab a bottle of shampoo from the wall, then squeezed a healthy amount into his palm before sinking his fingers into those brown locks.

Reiji let out a satisfied groan as Ranmaru thoroughly massaged his scalp whilst giving him more numerous compliments that focused on their last performance at the Rockin’ Summer Night festival just last night.

They’d closed out on the final day of the festival and while there were some small errors made by pretty much all of them from their exhaustion, it certainly wasn’t as bad as Reiji made it sound while ranting just minutes earlier.

‘I wish I was more like you,’ Reiji murmured as he’d turned around to shampoo Ranmaru’s spiky, silver hair next.

‘Why would you ever want that?’ Ranmaru asked with closed eyes.

‘Because there is only one other person I know who constantly has breakdowns on her kitchen floor, likely because the lighting isn’t good enough in her bathroom,’ Reiji said.

‘Those weirdos you watch on youtube don’t count,’ Ranmaru murmured, ‘and everyone has their stress limit, I just so happen not to keep my shit bottled inside and bitch to whoever is in the vicinity.’

Reiji let out a small giggle, ‘that’s true... but... still, I wish I was more... normal.’

‘Being normal is for fucking losers,’ Ranmaru said, ‘everyone has their own struggles, some people cry on the bathroom floor while others drink themselves into a stupor every night.’

‘Drinking my sorrows away sounds far more enjoyable,’ Reiji said as Ranmaru felt a gush of water fall over his head.

‘Yeah, look at how that turned out for Ren,’ Ranmaru blinked open his eyes as Reiji was settling back down, ‘dumbass would’ve wound up needing rehab at that rate.’

‘Hey, I would’ve done the same thing if I walked in on you getting blown by Hijirn,’ Reiji replied with an annoyingly cute pout that made Ranmaru reach out to pinch at his cheek, ‘Ran-Ran!’

‘Don’t joke about that,’ Ranmaru cupped Reiji’s face with both of his hands, ‘it was enough dealing with Ai and Camus fretting over that idiot. I don’t want to even consider-’

‘Okay, okay I won’t,’ Reiji spoke up as he curled his fingers over one of Ranmaru’s wrists, ‘I’m fine now, Ran-Ran, I haven’t even cried in the past five minutes.’

‘A record, really,’ Ranmaru replied as he gently squished Reiji’s cheeks before letting his hands drop, ‘sorry, I just... hate seeing you like this and feeling so useless.’

‘Hey  _ I’m _ the useless one,’ Reiji said as he laid a finger on Ranmaru’s lips to keep him from speaking, ‘and right now I’m tired of talking about my feelings and I can think of something else I’d rather be doing at this moment.’

‘...and what may that be, Reiji?’ 

~

Any trace of patience Ranmaru had remaining inside of him was nonexistent as he pushed a third finger into his squirming lover while taking him into his throat simultaneously.

Reiji never made an effort to be quiet and this time was no different as he belted out Ranmaru’s name. Ren had practically made Camus’s dorm his own and Masato would have left the moment Reiji’s moans permeated their thin walls.

And honestly, Ranmaru couldn’t remember a time where he ever cared enough to be considerate to either of them. 

‘Ran, please,’ Reiji moaned, ‘I’m ready... I want you inside me.’

Ranmaru pulled himself off of Reiji’s slick length and glanced up to see just how flush and fucked out his boyfriend already appeared with his messy hair and swollen lips. He pulled out his fingers and squeezed out the last of their lube onto his own cock, letting out a small sigh as his fingers ran over the two piercings on the underside of the shaft.

Ranmaru still couldn’t believe he let Reiji talk him into that, but as a trade off his boyfriend had to get his nipples pierced. Who knew a piece of metal being put into those pert nubs would be so fucking hot?

Ranmaru wasted no more time as he lined himself up with Reiji’s loose hole and slid in with one smooth thrust. Reiji’s arms flew out to grab at his back and Ranmaru groaned as those blunt nails began to dig into his skin.

He leaned down to meet Reiji’s lips and took him in a rough, needy kiss as he fucked into him faster. He knew well that his back would be scratched up from his boyfriend and that only turned him on even further paired with the sweet noises falling from Reiji’s lips.

‘Tell me, Rei,’ Ranmaru said as his fingers went to pinch at one of his nipples, ‘whose the only one that can fuck you like this?’

‘You are,’ Reiji breathed out as Ranmaru’s thrusts made no move to slow or soften.

‘And who is the only person to make you feel this good?’ Ranmaru pinched once more at the nub while rolling his thumb over the green stud.

‘You do!’ Reiji moaned while his hips bucked back on Ranmaru’s length.

‘That’s right,’ Ranmaru smirked as he drew his hand up to slide over Reiji’s neck, ‘and who do you belong to, senpai?’ 

‘You, Ranmaru, I’m only yours, I’ll always be yours,’ Reiji babbled as Ranmaru’s fingers slightly curled around his neck, ‘I love you so much.’

‘Show me how much you love me by coming solely on my cock,’ Ranmaru sped up his thrusts as he slowly increased his grip on his lover’s pale throat, ‘I know someone as cockhungry as you can do that for me.’

He could feel Reiji’s walls tighten around his cock before he let out a strangled moan and came all over his stomach. Ranmaru soon followed after as he released his hold on Reiji’s neck and came deep inside him after a few more thrusts.

~

A plume of smoke fell from Ranmaru’s lips as he blew it out of the nearby opened window and tapped his cigarette into the ashtray sitting by the window sill. He’d been cutting back on his smoking in the past few months, but after today he was craving the nicotine.

Reiji had left back to his own dorm to go retrieve his laptop and whatever was in his closet snack stash as Ranmaru’s mind was allowed to wander back to the same subject that’d been pressing at him since Reiji’s birthday party.

_... _

_... _

_... _

_ ‘Did you get cold feet at the last moment?’ Masato asked from behind the kitchen counter, ‘because I think everyone in the club expected you to pop the question right then.’ _

_ ‘I’m curious too,’ Ai spoke up from the stool besides Ranmaru, ‘everything was in place, it was the perfect moment to ask him.’ _

_ ‘I...’ Ranmaru pursed his lips and glanced away from the two inquisitive men, he didn’t sign up to be interrogated first thing in the morning, ‘...I still haven’t bought it.’ _

_ ‘What?!’ Masato yelped, ‘why not? You’ve been obsessing over that ring for a solid two weeks now.’ _

_ ‘Well yeah, but... it’s fucking complicated, alright?!’ Ranmaru snapped back. _

_ ‘I don’t see what’s so complicated,’ Ai calmly responded, ‘you love him, he loves you, what more do you need?’ _

_ ‘Love isn’t enough,’ Ranmaru said, ‘there’s a lot more to... getting married.’ _

_ ‘Sounds like you’re just making up excuses,’ Masato replied, ‘do you want to spend the rest of your life with Kotobuki or not?’ _

_ ‘Don’t think, just answer it,’ Ai followed up. _

_ ‘Yes!’ Ranmaru said, ‘but-’ _

_ ‘Do you want to move in with him?’ Masato asked. _

_ ‘Yes.’ _

_ ‘Do you want to have kids with him?’  _

_ ‘I mean... I’m not opposed to it...’ Ranmaru said as he could feel a flush rising to his cheeks at the mere thought of that. _

_ ‘And what happens when you imagine life without him?’  _

_ ‘I can’t, it’s impossible to,’ Ranmaru quickly answered, ‘and I don’t want to.’ _

_ ‘So why haven’t you bought the ring yet?’ Ai asked. _

_ ‘...I don’t know,’ Ranmaru admitted with a sigh, ‘because it’s such a huge fucking step.’ _

_ ‘That you’re willing to take with the love of your life,’ Masato said, ‘if you don’t have any more excuses, we’re going out to buy it now.’ _

_ ‘What?’ Ranmaru blurted out as Masato was already heading towards his head to presumably change into something more suitable for the outside world. _

_ ‘Aren’t you supposed to be the bold one around here?’ Ai said. _

_ ‘Fuck off.’ _

_... _

_... _

_... _

Ranmaru took another drag of the cigarette as he went over the plans for the dozenth time in his head. He’d already asked Shining for their next weekend to be clear and it’s a fucking miracle that the entire agency didn’t know what Ranmaru was doing with how loud his bosses scream was.

He originally only wanted to invite Ai and Camus along to the mountain spa resort he’d booked, but with recent... developments, maybe inviting Ren wouldn’t be a completely terrible idea. 

Ranmaru picked up his phone from the nightstand and searched for Ren’s number in his contacts before he had the chance to change his mind.

_ Ran >>> Dense Carrot _

Ran: u free next weekend?

Dense Carrot: I have a couple things but I’m sure I can get out of them for you 😏

Ran: k

Dense Carrot: 🤔 why do you ask? 

Ran: ask your bfs

Ranmaru set his phone back down and smashed the rest of the cigarette into the ashtray as he could hear the sounds of his boyfriend coming back. Ranmaru knew that he was more than willing to endure Reiji’s worst moods if only to be there to build him back up and make sure that cute smile never permanently faded away.

~

**Author's Note:**

> isn't ranmaru such a sweetheart?


End file.
